Arena
Arena is a 4v4 game mode played within the confines of a small map. The rules of the mode is a 60 seconds team deathmatch with no respawn. This game mode is not true PvP because the enemy is always controlled by a bot. The enemy player only assigns their champions for Arena Defense (AD) and the team will auto defend for them. The Arena Offense (AO) side is human controlled/supervised. There is the revenge mechanic whereby if the defender lost, they are given a chance to fight back in a rematch. Both teams may have different champions in the revenge, however, because you can attack and defend with different teams. A key defining characteristic of this mode is the timer. Because the attacker loses if the defender manages to survive for 60 seconds, the AD meta is all about using the best tanks backed up by the best healers... and Snipers (most broken unit in the game). Vampires and Deathmongers take the DPS slot sometimes. Arena formation Note that the arena defense settings and the actual formation differs. Win streak bonuses For every 2 wins you earn, you gain a temporary buff for your team until you lose. So be sure to clear off weaker opponents first to increase your chances of defeating tougher ones. Challenger wins do not count. Arena Season Effects For each season (i.e. each week), there is a mechanic at play which favors certain elements more than others. There are 3 effects applied to both players' teams, 2 of them being beneficial while the last is detrimental. Their impact is comparable to Synergy Traits, if not more. This set marks the launch of arena effects in Update 7 patch. It can be interpreted as: * Winners: Water dps, Light dps * Minor win: Nature supports & tanks, Fire supports & tanks, Dark dps * Same: Nature dps, Water supports & tanks * Minor loss: Fire dps, Dark tanks * Losers: Light supports & tanks, Dark supports * Recommended defenses: Nature tanks, Nature supports, Water dps Some veterans dub it as "Wrona week". Challengers Challengers are weak bot teams that offer a sure-win way of earning Battle Emblems. For players who are unfazed by the stiff competition in the Arena ranked ladder, challengers is a stress-free way to enjoy this game mode. Unlike normal arena matches, challenger matches have no time limit. Challengers may be considered weak but for new players, they do offer some challenge. New players may need to swap in and out different champions depending on the composition of the challenger team, which can be a good practice for drafting counters in Guild Wars later on. As a player levels up, they unlock more challengers to play against. New challengers are unlocked at levels 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14 and 16. To revenge or not? The UI of the Revenge tab shows the people who have attacked you. The champions shown are the teams they used to fight you. What may be misleading about the interface is that these are the enemy's AO teams. You need to individually check each enemy to see their AD teams. The good news is that a substantial amount of people use extremely weak AD teams to intentionally drop their ranks and gain access to easier enemies. So be sure to click on all revenge buttons to not miss out on free wins.